


dear keith

by jilliancares



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: In the Beginning, Just read it lol, LMAO, Letters, Long-Distance Relationship, M/M, except this isn't smut, kind of, obviously they get together lmao, once by accident, sending nudes, that just Happens a couple of times, they're not actually dating yet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-11
Updated: 2018-12-11
Packaged: 2019-09-16 05:26:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,708
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16947861
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jilliancares/pseuds/jilliancares
Summary: Keith is back with the Blade of Marmora for an unknown amount of time except this time he and Lance have tablets. Many e-mails ensue.





	dear keith

**Author's Note:**

> oh man guys!!! the last season will be here in,, Days,, and i am excited and scared and sad and everything. anyway thought now would be a good time to put out a fic! hope you guys enjoy!! <3

14/71/48900 

Dear Mullet,

Would you take a LOOK at that date? I swear I had a hundred things I was gonna tell you about but that thing is totally distracting. I guess they measure time super differently in space. Or on Altea? I mean I know they say like tics and vargas and shit but I’ve never thought about like,,, how many days they have in a month.

Anyway, I’ve gotten off topic. Allura said we should send you a letter asap to make sure you got back with the Blades all right (side note: the UTMOST betrayal!! Voltron needs you more!!! But you’ve heard me complain already, so whatever. Although I’m secretly hoping that if I say it enough times it’ll get through you thick mullet) and I did everyone the favor of volunteering.

I know what you’re thinking. _Lance_? Volunteering to do _work_? But I actually like writing letters. My siblings and I used to write each other letters when we got bored and slip ‘em underneath each other’s doors, and we’d always fight over who got to write our abuela’s Christmas card. I don’t know, I think writing letters is super peaceful and relaxing and shit, and I think any chance we can get to relax these days is probably needed. PLUS, Allura gave me this awesome high-tech tablet thing to write this letter on, and I’m not really planning on giving it back. I’m totally gonna see if there’s any secret video games on here.

Write back soon!! We love knowing whether you’re alive and well, believe it or not :))) You’re not just a part of team Voltron, you’re a part of our family.

Hope everyone in the Blade is treating you right!

Your favorite arm of Voltron,

Lance

—

14/80/84900

Lance,

Thanks for checking in on me, and sorry for the late response. Took a bit of a detour on the way back to base, I won’t bore you with the details. Kolivan said I could keep this tablet though, so I should be able to get back to you faster if you write again. Might be nice to get to talk to you guys more this time than just through those occasional video calls.

You’re right — the date is weird. Only you would pay that much attention to something being weird in space, though.

And that’s cute of you and your siblings. I’m imagining you having totally horrible handwriting, by the way. Kind of thankful these things are digital.

Sincerely,

Keith

P.S. Allura’s my favorite arm of Voltron

—

14/81/84900

Dearest Mullet,

YOU’RE ALIVE! THANK THE UNIVERSE!!!

Kidding! We totally assumed some dumb mission or something was keeping you. The details wouldn’t bore me, btw. Unless that’s your way of saying it was super dangerous and you almost died and that the details would terrify me. In which case… yeah, maybe I don’t want to know.

Everyone’s glad you made it there safely! Hunk’s such a worry wart, he literally collapsed in relief when your letter came through. Speaking of, how is it that you literally sound like yourself in writing??? It’s kind of scary, but I’m also not surprised. I bet you text with proper capitalization and punctuation, too.

Also, RUDE. Not only do I have beautiful handwriting, but I have beautiful handwriting which you should recognized. Yet another case of you being totally oblivious of my existence back in the Garrison. Anyway, those notes that always got passed around during class? Where we’d have stupid polls and draw Iverson with a dick on his face and shit? Yeah, I always started them. I have such a great legacy.

Oh, and to catch you up on the important shit you’ve already missed since you so needlessly abandoned us (besides the actual confidential Voltron Stuff that Allura says I’m not allowed to put into a letter lest it get hacked):

  * I made Shiro laugh so hard that he squirted goo out of his nose. I know that sounds objectively hilarious, but it was actually kind of disgusting. He sneezed the rest of the day
  * Hunk created space bacon. Don’t ask me how because I couldn’t tell you, but Kaltenecker IS safe, so don’t worry
  * Coran’s trying to grow a beard
  * Coran Can’t grow a beard
  * Allura let me paint her nails even though I’m horrible at it
  * Pidge got stuck in a vent



Hope you’re having a good day/night/time cycle when you get this!

Your favorite arm of Voltron (let’s not kid ourselves here)

Lance

—

14/83/84900

Lance,

Yeah, I don’t think you’d want to know more about my missions than I tell you. Just know things are a lot different when you don’t have a magic space lion to protect you.

And yeah, I text that way. It’s no different than writing a letter? I mean, _you’re_ using capitalization and punctuation. You sound like yourself too, by the way.

Sorry I didn’t recognize your handwriting. If it helps, no one actually ever passed me those notes in the first place.

Also you should know, Shiro’s probably planning some sort of revenge. It won’t seem like he is, and you won’t expect it, and when it happens you might not even realize he planned it… but yeah. He’s totally going to get you back for that. And I’m worried that you’re assuring me of Kaltenecker’s safety. You know bacon comes from pigs, right?

Sadly, I’m in the same boat as Pidge. I’m the smallest one around here by far, so it’s not entirely rare for them to ask me to crawl into some space they can’t normally get to (last week one of the guys made me squeeze behind this boiler thing to get some ball he dropped a few months ago). Anyway, I was in the vents the other day trying to catch this bird-thing someone snuck onto the ship (really long story) but turns out it wasn’t a bird and was actually a little lizard? Thing? Except it had wings and could breathe fire. Not the best day.

Write again soon.

Your favorite pseudo head of Voltron,

Keith

—

15/1/84900

Mr. Pseudo Head,

KEITH LOOK!!!!!!! THE DATE CHANGED!!!! IT’S A NEW MOOONTH!!!! You know… I can’t tell which of those numbers is the month and the day. Like in the US it’s month/day/year but I’m pretty sure like everywhere else it’s day/month/year? Anywayyy, new time unit new me, am I right?!?

I gotta say, it’s HILARIOUS that you’re the smallest one there. Teensy tiny vent-sized Keith! Also DUDE. What the fuck!!! That thing you saw was LITERALLY a dragon!!!! I can’t believe you met a real live dragon and had the balls to say it wasn’t the best day.

And while I may be using proper punctuation and shnaz, it’s entirely thanks to auto-correct. I’m not gonna lie, my writing and grammar abilities are atrocious. A little red line could pop up telling me to put a comma after every single word in a sentence and I’d believe it.

Also, I think the day I just had trumps any bad day you think you’ve had (super dangerous suicide missions aside). We were on this planet trying to make an alliance, you know how it is, and this alien queen was like, “Hmmm! I don’t know… I need some convincing…”

Like??? We’re offering to protect you forever at the expense of you occasionally helping us out if we’re in the area?? And you need to THINK about it???

Ahem. I’m totally not salty.

But anyway, Allura’s all, “Blah blah I’m a princess and know just what to say, blah!”

And the queen was like, “Very true. I guess I will join the coalition… on ONE condition.”

Fucking. Guess what that condition was, Keith. GUESS.

She asked for a “”””””””””sexual favor””””””””””. And everyone was like uuuuhhhh, wut? But then everyone got over it and was like hey, this beautiful queen wants someone to sex her up, whatever. Lance can do it!

And, you know, I wasn’t gonna protest and ruin everything for all of us. I _was_ talking about how hot she was, like, five minutes before that. So I like,, go off with this alien queen and we get there and just…

Dude, I couldn’t do it. I know I flirt all the time and joke around about this stuff but I’ve never really done anything more than kissing chicks before. But I didn’t want to tell the team that! Like, idk it felt super selfish? So I told this queen all that thinking she’d be sympathetic and she said she’d cut me a deal.

So like… I’m sending her nudes. That’s the deal. She joined the coalition and let us leave but like. Now I’ve gotta send some random queen NUDES meanwhile the rest of the team thinks I fucked her.

How is this my life??? I don’t even know how to TAKE nudes.

Oh, and thanks for the advice about Shiro btw, but it was already too late. I would tell you about his revenge but there are some things involving gross food and bodily fluids that you really don’t want to know.

Also, “Write again soon.” ??? It’s kinda hard to understand you over electro— HOLY SHIT THESE ARE EMAILS. We are LITERALLY sending each other electronic mail Keith!!!!!!!! Why am I??? Just now realizing this???

But yeah I can’t tell whether you were saying YOU’D write again soon or if you were trying to tell ME to write again soon. Either way, would it kill you to use an exclamation point every once in a while?

Love,

Your favorite prostitute of Voltron

P.S. you’re not really a pseudo-head. Black and the rest of us are 100% ready for you to return at any time

P.P.S I can’t believe those assholes never passed you my notes >:((( Attached is a rendition of my Iverson dick-face drawing. Please observe it at your leisure

—

15/3/84900

Lance!!!!!!!!!

(Enough exclamation points for you?)

Honestly, yeah, that does sound like a sucky day. I saw that you’d attached an image and before I got to the P.S. I was really thinking you’d sent me a nude. I bet if you told Allura about your situation, she’d work something out with you.

If it’s not too late and you’re really going to go through with this, taking nudes isn’t that hard. I’m sure you’ve taken tons of selfies before (no offense but you seem the type) and it’s pretty much the same as that. Just naked, I guess. Use your angles to your advantage. Probably lay on your bed and use the timer setting — maybe stretch out a little. I’m sure you’ll be able to take a few good ones.

And you can stop laughing about me being the smallest one here. I’m taller than you now, remember?

Sorry I was too late about Shiro. He really can be the worst.

Oh, and your Iverson drawing? Surprisingly good. I actually snorted when I saw it.

YOU* should write again soon. And then I’ll write you back after that — also soon.

Sincerely,

Keith

—

15/4/84900

Keith,

Har har. Very funny.

Yeah, I’m definitely not telling Allura about this. I’m not telling anyone. Except you, I guess. And what’s this??? You some kind of nude expert??? Literally why am I not surprised? Anyway, yeah, I did used to take a lot of selfies. And now that I know this stupid tablet has a camera? Yeah. TONS of selfies. I’m the selfie king, Keith. Let’s take one when you come back!!!!

Also I’m pretty sure you being taller than me is a lie???? So there’s that.

Anyway the queen’s yet to provide us the materials she promised and I think it’s because I’ve yet to provide her with the nudes I promised :/// Allura’s talking about going back to the planet and asking what’s up, so I know I should get a move on. Sigh.

Love,

Lance

P.S. This time the attached images really are nudes. You don’t have to open them if you don’t want to, but I’d actually appreciate it if you could tell me if they’re good or give me any pointers if they’re not. I felt fucking ridiculous taking them

—

15/5/84900

Lance,

Yeah I think you should send them to the queen.

Keith

—

15/6/84900

I sent them. You didn’t think they were weird or bad or whatever???? Ugh idk why anyone even takes nudes aslkdfjfdkasdkfasdf

—

15/7/84900

Lance,

No, they weren’t weird. They were good. And I guess people take them because it makes them feel good about themselves?

Keith

—

15/8/84900

Keith,

Lmao you say that as if we aren’t both aware that you take nudes. Send them coward!!!!!! A dick for a dick, or however the saying goes.

Lance

—

15/11/84900

_Empty message. Image attached_

—

15/12/84900

Keith,

Holy shit dude! I was kind of joking. Except now I wish I’d seen those before I sent my nudes to the queen???? Definitely could’ve done a better job taking them. Idk I think some of it might be because of confidence though.

Anyway. Thanks for showing me your naked body! I feel like we’re on a whole new level of friendship these days.

Also, have you thought at all about when you’re coming back? Unrelated to the fact that we sent each other nudes, lmao. If it effects your decision at all (affects? Effects? Honestly who knows), Hunk made bacon AGAIN. Kaltenecker’s still safe, of course, ‘cause she’s a cow. I knew that.

Get back to me soon!

That guy you occasionally exchange nudes with (lol),

Lance

—

15/14/84900

Lance,

I still think yours were fine. They kind of had this shy/innocent vibe, which the queen probably liked. I wouldn’t worry about it.

And I don’t know Lance. I’m definitely coming back, I told you guys that before, but I don’t know when yet. I feel like I’m doing good stuff here, but it’s good to know I’m still wanted back at the castle.

Also it’s not that hard. Affect is the verb and effect is the noun. Aren’t the words similar in Spanish?

Miss you guys.

Love,

Keith

—

15/15/84900

Keith,

Bold of you to assume I’m any better at grammar in Spanish than in English. Btw, kind of sounds like you’ve looked at my nudes more than once. Not that I’d blame you ;)))

(Watch out. With every compliment my confidence rises an exponential amount!)

Anyway, I’ve gotta go to some banquet thing with the team in like… 5 minutes ago. Talk to you later!!!! Try to remember that you’re doing good things here with Voltron too!!!! :)))))

Love,

Lance

—

15/15/84900

Ayoooi KETIH!!!

You will never fuckign guess the night I had! Allurs let us DRIKN at the banquett >:)

I’m like for sure tipsy but I’m not drubk,, you know???

i MISS you :((( And I kno we did’nt make a big deal about our nudes but lik.., we sent eahc other ndues, dude. NDUDES. M not gonna lie, they were preetyty good! Like… I loked at those for a looongg time if you kno what I mean ;p)

Speaking of nudes, I took more, so I’m sending them to u. God this isnt’ weird, right? Not gonan lie, I think when yuo get back we should hook up. Think it could be a fun time, you know??

Come back soon!!!

Horny boy hours,

Lancey Lanec

—

15/16/84900

Lance,

Thanks for giving me the funniest email to wake up to. I hope your head doesn’t hurt too bad. Your drunk nudes were hilarious, by the way. I never would’ve guessed that you were so weirdly flexible.

Also, Kolivan’s planning an expedition to the Altean society I went to last time on the space whale. I guess I have another decision to make. It’d probably only be a month or so for you guys, and with the proper equipment it might only be that long for me, but… Well, the safest way through is definitely on the creatures that already know the path, so that’s a viable option too. Could be another two years for me…

Get back to me soon.

Keith

—

15/19/84900

Keith,

FUCK. I totally forgot I emailed you after the banquet… What did I say? God dammit, did I really send you more nudes? Sorry dude, I hope I didn’t make you uncomfortable or anything.

As for the whole space whale trip thing… Don’t do it. Even if it really would just be a month for you. I don’t think you should risk it. And like, we all miss you so much already and it hasn’t even been a month yet. And I know you missed us like crazy the last time you were on the space whale. What I’m saying is there’d be a whole lot of everyone missing each other all around, and I think you should just come home instead.

Think about it, okay?

Lance

—

15/23/84900

Lance,

Sorry, I think I’m gonna keep your email for my eyes only. Looking at all your spelling errors really cheers me up after a sucky mission. And no, your “ndudes” didn’t make me uncomfortable, don’t worry about it.

And I think you might be right. It’s starting to look like my time with the Blades might be a bit shorter than last time. We’ll see.

What have you guys been up to?

Keith

—

16/24/84900

Keith,

You can’t just NOT tell me. They’re my words! I deserve to know!!! I bet I could get Pidge to hack into this and get my message back anyway, so you should just save me the hassle and send me a screenshot (side note: CAN these things do screenshots??)

And kind of nothing??? It’s been a whole lot of sitting around and waiting besides the occasional distress signal or attempt at recruiting someone into the coalition. Bet things would be more fun if you were around though!!!

Anyway, how’s the Blade been treating you? I feel like we’ve talked about nothing but nudes for... Way too long. Still got all your fingers and toes? Mullet still mullet-like?

Hope you’re doing well dude!

Love,

Lance

—

16/30/84900

Keith,

You okay dude? You usually answer pretty fast and it’s been like six days. I dunno if my last email got lost in space or if you broke your tablet or got whisked away on a mission or something, but get back to me, kay?

Lance

—

16/33/84900

Okay I’m really getting worried now dude. Please get back to me soon. You didn’t go on the space whale, did you?

Lance

—

16/35/84900

I told Allura you weren’t answering and she tried to contact Kolivan and he didn’t answer either. What’s happening to you?

Lance

—

16/40/84900

Please don’t make me turn into one of those sad tumblr posts where the one person keeps texting their friend even though they’re dead or something because I Swear To God,,,,

—

16/42/84900

Lance,

No need to turn into a sad tumblr post. I’m sorry I didn’t get back to you sooner — a mission went wrong and we were stranded on this planet for a while. Things got pretty hairy, but it’s all good now.

Don’t know if you were serious about having Pidge hack your tablet, but I hope you realize she’d end up seeing your nudes. You realize that, right?

In conclusion, I’m alright and I’m sorry for freaking you out. Hope you’re well.

<3

Keith

—

16/43/84900

KEITH!!

God I want to freak out about you being alive and well but I just keep getting distracted by the fact that you did a <3\. I didn’t think you even knew what that was, tbh.

But seriously, YOU’RE ALIVE. Fucking fuck dude. I literally don’t think I’ve slept at all. Coran had to shove me into a pod a couple times, it got so bad. I’m so glad you’re okay.

You realize what this means, right? Like... you have to come back. I thought these tablets were gonna make this easier, but now I’m just freaking out even more.

Planning to beg you to come back until you actually do (and not because I sent you nudes that one time),

Lance

—

16/44/84900

Lance,

It was more than one time.

And you were surprised by me knowing an emoji and not tumblr’s existence? Sometimes I just want to figure out how your mind works.

And I am planning on coming back, I promise. I just have to figure out when. Hopefully it’s not too long now.

Keith

—

16/44/84900

Shiro,

I’m planning on coming back any day now. We just got back from a mission and Kolivan thinks there’ll be time to drop me off at the castle on the way back to the base. Could you get Allura to send him your coordinates? Also, can you just keep this between you and Allura, maybe? I want to surprise everyone.

Keith

—

16/44/84900

Keith,

Of course. I’m glad you’re coming back already — we’ve all missed you. Also, are you trying to surprise everyone, or just a particular someone? ;)

Shiro

—

16/44/84900

Shiro,

I’m not talking to you. Especially if you ever send me another winky face again.

See you guys soon.

Keith

—

16/45/84900

Keith,

Touché. Except now I’m wondering if you actually had a tumblr. You HAVE to show it to me the next time we’re on Earth!! I s2g,, even if you don’t show me yourself, I’ll find it. Oooh man I bet you had one of those really emo blogs. THAT or anime. You totally seem like an anime guy.

Omfg. You are, aren’t you?!? LOL I can’t get the image out of my head.

Lmk when you know when you’re coming back!! I’ll start a countdown or something, it’ll be cute.

Ily!

Lance 

—

16/47/84900 

Lance,

Even if I did have a tumblr, I’d never let you see it.

Also, you’d like anime. In fact, I’m going to make you watch it the next time we’re on Earth. You’ll see.

And will do.

Ily2.

Keith

—

16/48/84900

Keith,

Pffft. I’ll watch anime with you when you show me your tumblr, you liar.

Also I can’t BELIEVE it! Not only did you say you love me (gasp! He has feelings in that cold, shriveled grinch heart of his!), you used an abbreviation! I’m so proud :’)

Ta-ta for now you big weaboo,

Lance

—

16/49/84900

Keith,

You still set to arrive today? Everything should be ready for your arrival. Lance doesn’t suspect a thing ;)

Shiro

—

16/49/84900

Shiro, 

I never said anything about Lance. And what did I say about the winky faces?????

Keith

—

Lance groaned when the alarm blared through his room. Not the ‘ _Emergency! We’re under attack!’_ alarm but the ‘ _hey everyone get your asses to the bridge for something that’s probably bullshit’_ alarm. He was just in the process of writing Keith a letter — kind of the most entertaining part of his day, lately — but he set it aside and got out of bed anyway. Besides, maybe there’d be a new message waiting for him when he got back. Literally nothing improved his mood more.

No one else was in the hallways as Lance navigated towards the bridge. Probably because Hunk had already been in the kitchen or the lab and his room was the only one close to Lance’s (now that Keith wasn’t living right across the hall). He could see his reflection in some of the metal panels he passed, polished smooth, and he wrinkled his nose at his appearance before proceeding to do nothing to fix it. His hair looked a mess, but that was his helmet’s fault, and he’d already taken a shower this morning.

“What’s going on?” Lance asked as he walked into the bridge, stretching his arms high over his head with a yawn. Everyone else was already gathered, which wasn’t rare. He was typically the last one, especially when it was the lax alarm.

Allura and Coran were stood in the middle of the bridge, right around where Allura usually put her hands in order to wormhole. Shiro was behind them, his arms crossed and his lip pulled up in a smirk, amused. Hunk was grinning like a loon, his face flushed as he stood beside his chair, looking straight at Lance. Pidge was beside him, her hair almost as messy as Lance’s, as if someone had ruffled it — someone besides Lance, that is. And Keith was in his usual spot, a little ways away from everyone else with his arms crossed over his chest, though he certainly looked out of place in his Marmoran getup.

Lance blinked.

“Wait, _what_?!” he yelled instead of something more appropriate for the occasion, and he stood gaping at Keith for a mere moment, trying to take in his presence as he decided whether or not he was some kind of extreme hologram. And after deciding that Keith was not, in fact, some kind of aparition, Lance sprinted toward him and barreled into his arms, not entirely sure what he was doing. This wasn’t weird, was it? Except Keith’s arms were around him too, holding him close, so Lance grinned into his shoulder as he breathed him in.

“You said you would tell me when you knew!” Lance said, even though he didn’t really care. Not when Keith was here already. Not when he’d never seen it coming. He felt feather-light with elation. “What about my countdown?!”

“Sorry,” Keith laughed, pulling back enough so that they could look each other in the eyes. Lance felt his face heating up inexplicably, so he pulled Keith back into a hug before he could notice.

It felt good to have him back.

—

16/51/84900

Keith,

Sorry for stealing your tablet and running off with it so I could read the (dreaded) drunk email I sent you. I want to feel embarrassed about it, but… Well, you never seemed mad? Or weirded out or anything?

So. Um. You’ll notice that your tablet is right back on your bed, so that you can actually get this message, and if you want to… maybe come over to my room?

God, that sounds so creepy. I don’t want you to come over here so we can like, hook up. Because while I’m no doubt sexually attracted to you (And I hope that is a two-way street???? Lmao if it’s not please delete this email and both of us can pretend you never saw it! Ahahaaa! :)))) ) I also like… _like_ you. You know?

So if you feel the same way or anything, maybe come over? And we can just hang out? And like talk and stuff? And I mean I’d totally be up for making out or whatever if you wanted to askdfjldfad

Um I’ve been staring at this for like 10 minutes trying to convince myself to send it so if you’re reading this… guess I Managed :))))

Lance

—

16/51/84900

Lance,

Open your door. How can you not hear me knocking? And yeah, I feel the same way about you. Obviously. I don’t send nudes to just anyone.

Keith

—

—

—

19/05/84900

Babe,

You are needed Immediately in the bathroom. I’m not saying there’s a bubblebath put together with love and care in here… but there’s a bubblebath put together with love and care in here. We’ve got SOAPS and SRUBS and CANDLES. A bitch went all out!!!

Please inform Coran that there’s been some sort of emergency and that you can’t help him out in the med bay anymore. Maybe tell him I have no toilet paper or something! That sounds super believable.

Anyway I’m putting my tablet out of reach of the water because we both remember what happened last time lmao. Hurry!! I don’t want the water to get cold and uuh I wanna cuddle you for approximately two (2) hours, I don’t care if you think you’re turning pruny

Eagerly waiting for your soon to be pruny butt,

Lance <3


End file.
